Nedra Comes to Visit...

On Sunday, November 19th,  my dear friend Nedra Gallegos came to visit. Nedra is the oldest friend I have, meaning that I have known her longer than anyone else. She was my best friend in high school and in the years just after.

Some of my favorite times were spent with Nedra when we were teens and young adults.

I was also Nedra's date to her senior prom in 1985.

Nedra lived for nearly 30 years in New York and now lives in Los Angeles.

In mid-October, she called me, wanting to know if I was okay. She then told me I had missed her birthday, and that was soooo not like me. Her birthday had been October 1st. It was a big one, too. It had been her 50th. Ooops. The first words out of my mouth were, "Oh crap. Is it October?" Of course it was October. It had been October 20th that day. To be fair, I had been working a lot and running around on several trips. I knew it was October but I hadn't really stopped to let it sink in all of the way. DANG IT ALL! I couldn't believe I had missed Nedra's 50th birthday. ARGH!

After getting past the missed birthday business and making sure I was okay, Nedra asked if she could stay at my house in November. Of COURSE she could. She has a key and is welcome any time. I would love to see her.

Besides, having her visit would give me a chance to make up missing her birthday.

My house was pretty much of a mess. I had been trying to sort through my posters in one guestroom and going through boxes and crap in another. I had to clean and move crap and hide...er, stash things away. During my preparations for Nedra's arrival, I also learned that Erich planned to join me for Thanksgiving (which you can read about HERE) and would be arriving on Sunday, the day I anticipated that Nedra would be leaving. Just in case, I put Erich in the room he likes (the mattresses are still on the floor because I can not find the really long screws for the bed frame in there) and put Nedra in the nicer of the two rooms, the room I use for Mom when she visits.

As it got closer to the weekend of her visit, I didn't know exactly when she would be arriving and how long she would be staying. I, of course, had already long since been scheduled to work that weekend. I work almost every weekend.

Nedra called and told me that her plans had changed somewhat. She was going to drive to Oakland on that Saturday to go to a friend's art opening. She thought the drive back to Fresno that same day would do her in, so she opted to stay in Oakland that night. But she would come to Fresno on Sunday, attend a party there, and stay with me that night, heading home Monday. 

Before leaving for work Sunday morning, I left her a welcome note on the bed and a bottle of champagne. Amazingly, I got off of work two hours early (!!??!!! That NEVER happens) and swung by and bought her some roses on the way home.

Erich had arrived by then and he and I both had picked up some snacks to munch on before dinner while we visited with Nedra. I also had a different bottle of champagne chilling in the refrigerator.

Soon Nedra had arrived, looking dashing as always. She was delighted to find Erich in attendance as a bonus visitor. After chatting for a while, we went out to dinner. The place we had intended to go was closed, so we went with Plan B, Hacienda Tequilas, a Mexican place in Clovis, or as I call it, the "place with the giant margaritas".

After working all day, I NEEDED a giant one. CHEERS!

Dinner was so-so (well, okay. it wasn't very good. But they were just about to close, so we were lucky we got what we got).

Nedra looks fantastic. She keeps herself fit. She has worked so hard all of her adult life. I'm glad she is in a good space. In fact, she has grown so much as a person, she is not the girl I knew back in the early 1980s. I find myself in awe of her...and I tend to get shy around her somewhat because of it. Crazy, I know. But Nedra just amazes me.

She also has a TV series script that may just get optioned called "Outside of the Box". Fingers crossed for her it sells.

The next morning a little after 8 a.m., she knocked on my bedroom door and came in. She wanted to know if I always slept so late. I told her that on my first day off after working several days in a row, yes I did sleep in. She told me that she had to be leaving soon. So, we got up. I was contemplating breakfast, but I am no cook. I was hoping Erich would wake up and take over. Except for very basic things, I don't know how to cook. I don't like bacon and have no idea how to prepare it really---so I don't burn it or leave it too raw. I kind of confessed this to Nedra and she just jumped right in and took over. She made herself completely at home. I loved that. She had her favorite morning radio on and she made breakfast the way she liked it and voila! It turned out lovely. By the time it was ready, Erich had emerged from his room and we all had a nice breakfast together.

Before she left, I decided I wanted to get a picture of her with her flowers. The uneaten belated birthday cake can be seen on the counter next to them. 

Somehow, in our morning conversation, the trip to the Clown Motel had come up. I ran back to my bedroom to give her the last clown nose from the Clown Hotel. It went well with her alien t-shirt.

All too soon, it was time to say goodbye. It was a brief visit but it had been great to see her. That morning I had mentioned something to her about knowing her for 35 years or so and who would have ever guessed that all of these years later we'd still be friends. 

She is truly a dear friend.